American Airlines Flight Attendant Accused Of Racism

Last week, an American Airlines flight attendant was caught on camera threatening to make Mexican passengers’ experience in customs “very difficult”. The incident took place at an unknown U.S. airport after a flight from Mexico.

The incident took place at an undisclosed U.S. airport. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The exchange reportedly took place after a conflict during the flight, after the cameraperson’s elderly mother became ill on the way. Apparently, this caused the crew member in question to become irritated.

In the six-second video clip, the camera person can be heard accusing the flight attendant of being rude to them during the flight:

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“You were very rude to us,” says the man holding the camera. “Darling, I can make it very difficult for you in customs,” the crew member replies back.

The airline has responded by saying “Discrimination has no place at American”. Photo: Nathan Coats via Flickr

“Dealing with you people”

The video is accompanied by more allegations of rudeness and poor treatment from the flight attendant. In fact, one of the family members involved released a statement of their own on Twitter:

“We tried to explain that my mother felt ill from the flight and tried to properly dispose of her throw-up and Carol’s response was ‘Oh please, I’ve been dealing with you people for 30-years. My family did not expect that response, as we had nothing to do with her career choice and her hate for her job for that matter. As soon as she said that out of line comment I pulled my phone out to record. My family said we didn’t want to argue we just wanted her to understand the interaction and how she was incredibly rude. She proceeded to insult and threaten us which is what is captured on film.”

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Further information shared by the family member on Twitter discloses that their entire family was born in the United States with the exception of her mother who was a legal immigrant to the country. The large group of relatives are all of Asian descent, according to FlyerTalk.

The individual goes on to say that the flight attendant actually made attempts to follow through on her threat. Allegedly, “Carol” tried to tell an employee to stop the family as they arrived at customs. The airport/customs employee then reportedly apologized to the family because “he could clearly tell Carol was being unfair and he asked if we wanted to bring his supervisor to report her”.

American Airlines has asked the family to message them directly to deal with the situation. Photo: Flickr user Prayitno

The response from American

American Airlines officials appear to be taking the matter seriously and have promised to investigate the matter. In fact, the airline immediately issued a statement as a response on Twitter:

In our culture, every interaction with a customer or team member should be grounded in respect. Please DM your travel and contact info.

Deputy Editor - An experienced photographer and video producer, Chris is a journalistic natural. Degree educated with a wealth of traveling history, Chris’ insight into routes, networks, and alliances brings a depth of quality to his work that is hard to beat. His strong relationships with Middle Eastern and Canadian airlines make him an asset to the team. Based in Vancouver, Canada.